For Indian founders eyeing global expansion, the UAE has long been a natural launchpad. Now, that path is being formalized: under the India–UAE CEPA Council’s flagship startup programme, five Indian startups have been selected for a fully supported “soft landing” in the Emirates — including visas, accommodation, and structured access to the local ecosystem.
A fully sponsored bridge into the Gulf
The selected companies emerged from a competition that reportedly drew around 10,000 applications across India. After multiple screening rounds and a final pitch event in New Delhi, 20 finalists were shortlisted — and five winners chosen for the inaugural cohort.
Their prize: a comprehensive soft-landing package in the UAE that can include:
- Visas and accommodation during the immersion period
- Incubation support and workspace, tied in with partners like Hub71 in Abu Dhabi
- Business setup assistance and trade licence facilitation
- Regulatory guidance and local market advisory
- Mentorship and curated access to investors across the UAE ecosystem
The programme is anchored in the broader India–UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which aims to deepen trade, investment, and technology ties between the two countries.
The startups behind the headline
Coverage to date highlights five varied winners across sectors such as sustainability, deep tech, and fintech, including Bioreform, Data Sutram, DocketRun, Endimension, and SBNRI.
Collectively, they span:
- Sustainable materials and packaging — replacing single-use plastics with biodegradable alternatives
- Data and regtech intelligence — mining hundreds of data sources for insights on risk, underwriting, and customer behavior
- Industrial safety platforms — using edge AI and computer vision to monitor high-risk sites and prevent accidents
- AI-powered healthtech — enhancing medical imaging workflows for hospitals and diagnostic centers
- NRI-focused fintech — giving non-resident Indians a unified stack for banking, investments, and compliance
Each startup has been paired with a UAE-based institutional partner — from banks to free zone authorities — which will help shepherd their expansion.
More than a pilot — a template for cross-border scale
CEPA Council leadership has framed this programme as the first initiative to take Indian startups from application to a fully sponsored UAE landing in such a short timeframe, with plans to repeat the cycle in future years.
If successful, this model could:
- Turn the UAE into a default global gateway for India’s most ambitious founders
- Offer a playbook for other corridors (e.g., India–Saudi, India–Africa) where capital, markets, and talent are complementary
- Encourage more co-designed programmes between governments, free zones, and private partners, rather than one-off pitch competitions
For the five selected startups, the coming months will be a stress test: can they translate Indian product–market fit into UAE traction, localize quickly, and use the Gulf as a springboard into the wider MENA region?
Editor’s Note — The Startups MENA Team
A lot of talk about “India–UAE corridors” has been high-level. This CEPA-backed soft landing is refreshingly tangible: five real companies, real visas, real desks, and real customers to go after. For MENA founders, the flip side is just as interesting — this is also a preview of how structured soft landings could work in reverse, helping regional startups enter India at speed. We’ll be watching not just who gets selected next, but how many of these pilots turn into enduring cross-border success stories.– By The Startups MENA Editorial Desk
